How do you check your oil?

[Patman]

I've owned too many cars with dipsticks I don't trust (they'll show completely different readings from one pull to the next, or will show full when they are a quart low like in my Corvette) so I really don't check my oil level anymore! Once I've owned a car a while I know how much it consumes based on how much oil comes out at oil change time, so I simply go by that to decide when to top off and how much. With my Corvette it uses 1 quart every 5500 miles but I also overfill it by 1 quart so I don't bother adding any oil between oil changes with that car. I've only had this 2006 Civic for a couple of weeks so I don't know it's consumption yet, I'll find out at the end of this interval, and just hope it's not using a quart every 2k or something scary like that. These engines don't have a history of being oil burners though so I'm really not too worried.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Trivia note: I was the one that provided the first prototype of the 2.4 balance shaft housing with the window on the side.

I worked in the casting prototype shop at Chrysler back in the early 80s. An engine engineer had an idea he sketched and showed me. I looked at it and told him I could make a few modifications to the sand mold and get him castings in a day. Four days after casting, the parts were machined, installed in an engine on a test stand, where the engineer got results to go ahead with his idea and move it to production. This is before AutoCad and QS9000. I miss those days.


Cool story! The unitized balance shaft assembly is one of the features that got a few paragraphs in Bill Weertman's book on the history of Chrysler engines. Its a very clean, packaged, and tidy installation compared to, for example, the Mitsubishi 2.6 that just shoved shafts in convenient places in the block casting and wound up making the overall engine bigger (not to mention having a contorted drive chain layout). And it was one of the few parts that got re-used almost un-changed when the 2.0/2.4 family of engines replaced the 2.2/2.5 family.

 

[morris]

about every two weeks, in the morning before starting it. i pull out the dip stick but NOT completely out of tube, just enough to read it. then put it back.

 

[rjundi]

Pull the stick, wipe sometimes with bare fingers, and if it looks wet between low and high mark leave it be.

I change the oil really often and cars do not burn oil, yet..

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Originally Posted By: Hallmark
You can always use the method that my step-daughter uses: wait until the red dash light comes on.


For some reason i cringe at the thought of buying a used car now.

Get used to it. There are already dipstick-less engines out there. The driver has no choice but to rely on the sensors to display a message on the dashboard when it's time to add oil...

 

[david_ES2]

I check when engine is cold. Like sitting overnight or couple of hours. (30 minutes after sitting at the LEAST if i have to )

Pull dipstick out and wipe it clean right away with shop towel.
put back in and check level.

My Oil level never changes, but always check it just in case.

Once that oil light comes on, start making plans to get another engine. Atleast on a honda.

 

[demarpaint]

For me I park on level ground, dry pull the stick, and read it first thing in the morning. This gives me the most accurate reading for the three vehicles I own.